Savior: A Response
by ArmoredSoul
Summary: A bit or drabble I wrote up after reading MemphimonX's "The Sound of a Thousand BONKS". It's reccommended that you read that first before getting into this.


Savior

A Team Fortress 2 fan fiction

Summary: Stupid little fangirly drabble in response to MenphismonX's "The Sound of a Thousand BONKS".

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No one knew where she came from. No one really cared. All that mattered was the fact that she came when they needed her most.

It was Engie who first realized something was up, being one of the few still able to hear the maddening cacophony no matter how far he jammed his fingers in his ears. He had been curled up in the farthest corner of his workshop, mumbling one of the many programs needed for the operation of his Sentry guns, when he noticed that he could actually hear his own voice for the first time in weeks.

For the first few seconds, he thought maybe that he had finally gone deaf, but swiftly crushed that idea when he gave an elated whoop. Then, he noticed the snoring. Soft at first, but steadily rising to a low buzzing rumble that reverberated in the background. Curious, the Texan crawled out from his corner, his lower legs and feet numb from sitting curled up for so long, and managed to drag himself over to the barricaded window. He pulled back on a loose board, and found himself gazing out upon the most fantastically wonderful sight he had seen in what felt like forever.

Dozens of Scouts, sprawled out in varying positions of exceeding oddity, each one fast asleep. The sight alone brought him to tears, and he had to pull off his goggles as he slid down to the ground, laughing with relief as the salty water droplets streamed down his face.

Then he heard a knock on his door, the sound echoing inside the heavy metal tool cabinet he had used for a barricade.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"  
The voice sounded off, an awkward monotone, but he couldn't have cared less. It was practically angelic to his tortured ears, vaguely feminine and completely devoid of the accursed Bostonian accent. He stumbled over to the door, his legs prickling pins and needles as the feeling slowly returned, and shouldered the cabinet over a scant few inches, just enough to allow him to peek outside.

A young woman, probably somewhere in her late teens, peeked in at him through the crack in his door. She was dressed casually in a turtleneck and jeans, all black, and dragged a large blue cooler behind her. She smiled, revealing a crooked front tooth, and waved to him.

"Hi!"

Tentatively, he waved back, unsure how to react to the female presence. Fortunately, she didn't seem to mind.

"Come on out, I'm here to get you home."

Engineer's gaze immediately flickered over to the sleeping insanity factory, and got another smile for his apprehension.

"Don't worry, those Scouts'll be unconscious for a good 10 hours."

She reached into the cooler behind her, producing what appeared to be a brownie.

"Tranquilizer brownies. Gotta love the concept."  
Replacing the confectionery, she returned her attention to the rattled Texan, extending a pale hand.

"So. Y'comin' or what?"

A moment's thought, and he slammed the door closed, turning to the task of muscling the massive cabinet out of his way before tossing the door open once again. He promptly grabbed the girl up in a massive hug, tripping over his own tongue as he tried to express just how grateful he was for her intervention. She was startled at first, but was quick to take his gesture in stride, returning the embrace and squeezing the mechanical genius tightly before wriggling free.

"You're welcome, but we've still got 6 others to find."

At that, he raised an eyebrow. Surely she had miscounted. She obviously understood what he was getting at, answering his unvoiced question.

"We've already found your Demoman. He's how we found out what happened. Came running into town screaming his head off and we had to drug him before we could get a straight word out. I was the only one to volunteer for the rescue mission."

Questions answered, the soft-spoken Engineer merely nodded and trailed after the girl as she started off into the rest of the base, though he made sure to grab her hand. Just to make sure he wasn't left behind.

The pair made their way swiftly onto the main battlefield, carefully picking their way through the minefield of sleeping Scouts towards the main base. The girl paused just inside the doorway, dropping the tow handle on the cooler to reach into her pocket for a slip of folded paper. She easily opened the paper with her thumb, revealing a crudely drawn scribble that vaguely resembled the layout of the base.

"Demo was kind of drunk when he drew this…"  
Engie grinned. Good to know the one-eyed Scotsman was back in form. She inspected the map for some moments before folding it once more and returning it to her pocket. Her reaching for the cooler's tow handle proved futile though, as it was already gripped firmly by the hard-hatted Texan, who only smiled when she gave him a questioning look. With a non-committal shrug, the girl continued into the base with Engineer close behind.

Their first stop was the Resupply.

The girl seemed to know exactly what she was looking for, gently removing her hand from her companion's grasp so she could investigate the lockers, popping open each locker for a cursory glance inside. On the third locker, she paused, squinting at the empty space at the bottom of the tall metal container. Engineer watched as she crouched down and reached into thin air, only to meet an invisible form. She smiled softly, her hand curling around an unseen arm.

_"Bonjour, monsieur. Je dois ici aider." (Hello, sir. I am here to help.)_

The Texan saw the girl's free hand lift, palm upwards, and clasp an invisible hand. She rose gracefully to her feet, dragging her unseen companion with her. He couldn't say he was pleased to find Spy first, but seeing how the Frenchman remained totally silent and out of the visible spectrum, he couldn't really complain. Obviously, the espionage specialist had been struck hard by the crisis, else he would have immediately began to pester his hard-hatted ally just for the fun of it.

The girl once again consulted her map, removing a small red pen from the same pocket and checking off two items on a short list as she held the paper up against the wall with her arm.

"Two down, four to go…"

She tucked the map back into her pocket, then took Engineer's hand with her free one and continued into the base. As they walked deeper into the complex, the Texan felt his heart begin to race as heard the distinctive sound of clashing bats and speedy footsteps. Oh dear Lord…

The girl didn't seem to notice at first, still smiling to herself as she plowed onward, only pause after some moments and look down at her hand, which he realized he was gripping with increased intensity. Judging by the redness forming on her other hand, Spy was likely doing the same. She glanced up, meeting his terrified gaze.

"More of them?"

It was then he realized that she was wearing earplugs, little rounded chunks of orange foam jammed into the ear canal to block out all noise. How he hadn't noticed the brilliant color previously was anyone's guess.

The girl carefully extracted her hands, whispering something to Spy in French and placing the invisible hand on the Texan's tool belt. He normally would have protested such an action, but he was more concentrated on the incessant Bostonian noise coming from the mess hall just down the hall and around the corner. She led them back a ways, and retrieved her cooler.

"You two stay here, alright? I'll be back in a few moments."

With that, she tromped right into the lion's den. And proved victorious, judging by the silence that descended not 30 seconds later. She returned, just as she'd said she would, and took Engie's hand, leading both he and Spy towards the mess hall. The brownies had worked like a charm, leaving the dozen or so Scouts snoozing in various positions about the mess hall.

Soldier sat slumped over at the far end of the table, silent and totally unresponsive. The girl carefully extracted her hand once more, striding purposefully up to the apparently comatose war veteran. She pulled up a chair, moving it so that it sat much closer to the infantryman, and gently lifted Solly into an upright sitting position. Once he was seated, she reached for the man's heavily battered helmet, removing the dented dome of metal from his head.

The man was completely out of it, his eyes glazed and unfocused as drool trickled from the corner of his parted lips, dark purple bruises standing out on his skull.

"Looks like a pretty bad concussion. We'll have to grab the Medic first before we even try to get him moving. Maybe even Respawn him, but as a last resort. Dunno what it could all do to his brain…"  
Some small part of the Texan's mind wondered how the girl new about the supposedly "top secret" technology of Respawn, but logic had him figuring Demo's explanation pretty quickly. The girl left Solly's helmet on the table, carefully making sure the man wouldn't slide about while they were gone before returning to the slowly growing little group and taking Engie's hand. Another look at the map, and they went deeper into the base, passing out the back of the mess hall into the kitchen.

Where they promptly discovered Heavy. The massive Russian had been crudely decorated with bits of napkins and various condiments, as had his beloved chaingun, which he clutched close as he silently wept.

The girl immediately leapt into action, digging through the many cabinets until she dug up a large supply of paper towels. She put the disposable sheets to immediate use, wiping off as much of the detritus as she could and even going through the trouble of filling up a pot with water and using that to scrub away most of the sticky smelly mess.

Heavy failed to respond to any of the attention he was receiving, staring off into space as he continued to cry, even when the girl tried to clean up Sasha. The Scouts had really done a number on the big guy.

But the lack of reaction did nothing to deter the young woman, as she quite happily began to hum as she worked, her voice pleasant despite the fact she couldn't actually hear herself to correct her pitch. After some moments, Engie began to hum along as well, his mild tenor a good accompaniment to the girl's lower-soprano. Shortly after that, the deep bass rumble of Heavy's voice joined in as well, the big man's eyes clearing to focus on the girl's face as she tenderly scrubbed at a stubborn honey-stain on Sasha's ammunition barrel.

"Leetle girl is very nice to Sasha."

She looked up, likely feeling for than hearing the Russian speak, and smiled.

"Hi."

Heavy gave a small smile, allowing the girl to rub off the stain before shifting his weight and slowly rising to his feet without letting go of his massive weapon, a feat he carried out with a little help from the young woman. The massive Russian fell silent as he joined the little group, trailing along behind them as they all headed off deeper into the base.

They found Pyro next, the firebug curled up in a corner in the hallway outside the barracks, his suit and mask battered and ripped from abuse. The girl wasted no time in dashing up to the trembling form, wrapping her arms around the traumatized BLU and whispering comforting words. It took almost ten minutes for Pyro to stop whimpering, another five to stop rocking, and a good twenty to finally get him to his feet. He was all too happy to cling to Engineer, a gloved hand on the Texan's tool belt right next to Spy's.

The Infirmary was next, and the girl refused to let anyone follow her into the room, even fending off the anxious Heavy. Screaming was soon heard, interspersed with snippets of panicked German and the girl's quiet voice as she tried to calm the terrified Medic. He heard something crash, and winced when he heard a pained howl followed by a whimper. There was a long silence, and then the girl came through the door, Medic cowering behind her.

The German looked nothing like his normal self, his hair and clothing a rumpled mess. He had also managed to procure a thin beard, though it did little to counteract the effect of his glasses, the loss of which made him look several years younger and twice as pitiful. Coupled with the fact that Medic practically vibrated in place from terror, Engie couldn't help but compare the somewhat psychotic doctor with a little boy caught in a terrible nightmare. Which wasn't too far off course, if one really thought about it.

She spoke very softly to the medical officer, gently prying the man's gloved fingers from her belt as she led him closer to the group.

_"Das, ist mein Freund ganz richtig. Diese sind Ihre Mannschaft-Genossen. Sie werden Ihnen nicht verletzen._ _Verstehen Sie?" (It is alright, my friend. These are your team mates. They will not harm you. Understand?)_

Medic nodded slowly, a singular lock of wavy hair in his face bobbing slightly from the motion. The girl carefully maneuvered the man towards Heavy, and made sure he understood whose arm he was clinging to before returning to the head of the group, taking Engie's hand once more as they turned back.

The walk back to the mess hall didn't take too long, and the girl was very gentle as she explained what was required of Medic as she led him to the table where Soldier still sat comatose. Being practically blind without his glasses, she had to help Medic with his MediGun, but the inconvenience was well worth the low groan that came from Solly as the healing beam took care of his head trauma.

"Ugh, my head…"

The girl was swiftly by the infantryman's side, helping him up out of his chair and retrieving the man's battered helmet.

"Here, you'll probably want this, just in case."

"…Thanks."

It took a few moments for the MediGun to do its work, but Soldier was soon able to get about just fine on his own and joined the group as they headed out onto the battlefield. Once outside, the girl immediately looked up and heaved a long sigh.

"Just one more."

With a little help from Heavy, she clambered up onto the lowest rung of the broken ladder leading up into the sniper's nest, a small bag stuffed full of brownies jammed into the waistline of her pants. The moment she opened the hatch, chaos erupted.

It was a well known fact that Sniper was a particular favorite for pestering by the original Scout, and the numerous copies eagerly followed suit. The fact that the skinny twerps were fully capable of double-jumping into the sniper's nest from the next ledge over by couldn't get out without severely damaging something did not help the situation any.

But the girl's spectacular brownies worked quickly, and soon the shrieking cacophony of BONKs, BOINKs, and NEEDA DISPENSAH HEAs were silenced, replaced by snoring. For a few moments, the snoring was the only sound to be heard, then there was a faint shuffling and the girl poked her head out of the hatch.

"Engie? Can you come up here please?"

The Texan could do little but stare up at her for a split second, startled by the fact that the girl actually knew his name, but was quick to recover, motioning to Heavy to give him a boost as he removed Spy and Pyro's hands from his belt, attaching the clingy pair to the massive Russian. He carefully ascended the rickety old ladder, hearing the rusted metal groan under his weight, but managed to make it to the hatch without incident. He froze there, seeing the masses of dozing Bostonians scattered about the tiny space.

"Could you give me a hand?"  
The girl's soft voice jerked him from his terror-stricken state, his head whirling round to find the young woman crouched in the farthest corner of the nest, where she was trying to push a large crate off to the side. He tentatively pulled himself up into the small room, careful to keep himself from touching the snoring Scout-mass as he picked his way over to the girl. With his help, the heavy crate was shoved up against the wall, allowing the girl to stride deeper into the corner. Engineer could just barely see the far edge of a tattered akubra over her shoulder at first, then she crouched down, and he felt his breath hitch at the sight of his Australian teammate.

The sharpshooter was huddled into a tiny little ball, his back pressed into the corner with his rifle clutched to his chest. His grip on the weapon was so tight his fingers were bleeding, the flesh torn open by coarse metal edges. Sniper's face was totally blank, his eyes wide and unfocused behind his yellow aviators. The girl waved a hand in front of his nose, frowning when she got no reaction.

"This is bad…"

Lowering herself into a kneeling position, she slowly shuffled forward, making sure to keep her motions slow and controlled as she squeezed herself into the space next to the silent Australian. The position looked far from comfortable, but she didn't seem to notice, wrapping her arms around the sharpshooter in a tight hug.

The reaction was almost immediate.

Sniper's face crumpled, and he began to cry, squeezing his eyes shut as his lanky frame was wracked with near-silent sobs. The girl didn't make a sound, just held the man as he wept and let him bury his face in the crook of her neck.

Engie sat himself on the shifted crate, his back to the pair to give them a bit of privacy. He couldn't help but feel a bit awkward, hearing his usually stoic teammate bawling his eyes out like a six-year-old that had fallen off the jungle-gym, but he refused to leave the two on their lonesome, even though the mess of snoring Scouts put him on edge.

The heart-wrenching sobs eventually petered out, and the Texan looked back over his shoulder to find his Australian teammate fast asleep, slumped against the girl with an arm over her shoulders, though his rifle was still held close in his free hand as if the weapon were some kind of security blanket. He watched as the girl lifted a hand to Sniper's face, gently brushing a few stray strands of sweat-damp hair out of the man's face, before lifting her gaze to meet his own.

"Do you think you can carry him down the ladder? He's too heavy for me, else I'd do it myself."

Engie simply nodded, rising to his feet and stepping around the crate towards the pair huddled so close together he almost couldn't tell where one ended and the other began. The Australian gave a pitiful whimper when the girl extracted herself from his grasp, but made no protest as he was man-handled into a piggy back by the Texan, his head drooping forward over Engie's shoulder. The girl took great care in making sure the sharpshooter had a good grip, and finally gave the engineer a thumbs-up. He maintained his caution as he descended the unwieldy ladder, his eyes on the rusted metal contraption beneath his feet.

Heavy was right there at the bottom, shifting his chaingun to rest its weight on his hip so he could offer a hand to help, lifting down the slumbering Sniper and placing the Australian in the temporary care of Soldier while he helped Engie and the girl down to the ground. Engie almost immediately felt someone grab onto his tool belt, and was more than a little surprised to find himself unable to see his cling-on. Why was Spy clinging to him of all people? His pondering was cut short by the girl speaking up, her soft voice raised to be heard over the low buzz of hundreds of Scouts snoring.

"Alright. It's time to go home."

She reached up, plucking the plugs from her ears and tossing them away as she grabbed onto the Texan's hand, taking the tow handle of her cooler in her free hand. They followed her across the map, creating an odd sort of train behind the young woman as she picked her way through the minefield of slumbering Scouts.

There was a old panel truck waiting just outside the deserted RED base, its deep green paint scuffed and scraped, though Engie could have cared less. The sight of the battered vehicle was pretty much a sign from God in his eyes. The girl dug out a set of keys from her jeans, slipping her hand from the Texan's grip as she approached the vehicle.

"You're going to have to sit in the back, Heavy, but I got some blankets and stuff in there so it shouldn't be too bad. Engie, could you get the bungie cords from under the front passenger seat? I need to put the cooler on top so we can fit everybody."

The next few minutes were spent getting everyone settled in the truck, the 7 disheveled, traumatized once-mercenaries piling into the vehicle under the young woman's maternal direction. Medic clambered into the back with Heavy, not wanting to be separated from his massive comrade. Pyro and Solly set themselves up in the back seat, with the still unconcious Sniper laid out over their laps. Engie found himself occupying the front passenger seat with the invisible Spy on his lap, the Frenchman refusing to leave his side. The girl hopped up into the driver's seat, promptly starting up the panel truck's 4-cylinder engine with a satisfying rumble. It was then that the Texan realized something very important.

"What's your name?"  
The young woman in black turned to face him, giving him a bright smile.

"Subira."

With that, she turned her attention to the road, leaving the horror of the Scout plague behind at last.


End file.
